Nokia, Samsung, Sony and 19 other companies are collaborating on the In-Location Alliance to develop and promote a precise indoor positioning technology.

GPS technology isn’t all that accurate, and it doesn’t work indoors. Right now, determining an exact location within an enclosed space requires external hardware for the purpose of mapping an indoor location. It’s a troublesome task that many companies, like Wifarer, are diligently working on. To help phones better breach the indoors, Nokia has formed an all alliance of 22 different companies to develop accurate indoor positioning technologies for mobile devices.

The In-Location Alliance will develop and promote short-range wireless technology for the purpose of super-precise indoor positioning. For example, a mobile app for the purpose of aiding shoppers could offer a shopper browsing the cereal aisle of a grocery store coupons based on her specific location. Other scenarios may allow the technology to help with finding the one shoe shining booth within a mall as large as The Mall of America.

The alliance is already close to perfecting this technology thanks to Nokia’s head start, which will likely be baked into the alliance’s efforts. In its testing phase, Nokia’s High Accuracy Indoor Positioning Solution (HAIP), which uses Bluetooth 4.0 and minimal power consumption, was able position a mobile device with accuracy of one meter. Through further development and fine tuning, Nokia will be able to position devices within accuracy of a mere 20 centimeters.

“The key criteria for the indoor positioning technology are high accuracy, low power consumption, mobility, and the low cost. The solution has to be easy to implement and easy to use,” Nokia’s Boc Ly wrote in a blog post.

Nokia by itself has already developed the technology for indoor positioning, which raises the question about why the company should even work with other corporations at all. Nokia explains that due to the technicalities, developing the technology for indoor positioning requires different roles including telecom operators, system manufacturers, application developers and handset manufacturers.

There are two hardware components to the technology. A HAIP antennae must be installed in the ceiling, or any area with decent wireless reception. The second component can be installed in a mobile device, or as Ly explains, it can be “made as separate tags, which can be attached to any asset.” The more daunting effort, and where the alliance will really come into play, is to convince every original equipment manufacturer and building owner to install these components in their effort to provide a complete network for pinpoint mapping.

“The alliance members can bring the technology to the market sooner, and also extend the technology in the future and provide new use cases and opportunities,” Ly writes.

The In-Location Alliance, which includes powerhouses like Sony Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics and Broadcom, outlines its role in three parts:

1. Continue working together on system architecture based on a standard based indoor positioning solution.
2. Alliance members will prepare and execute pre-commercial pilots and practical demonstrations starting in the second half of 2012.
3. Alliance members will brainstorm and evaluate new use cases and new business opportunities based on indoor positioning technology.

Competing technologies exist on a far smaller scale, such as Navizon I.T.S. With demonstrations already set to take place later this year, it may be only a few more years before we’ll be finding the nearest bathroom in an airport using Nokia’s HAIP technology.

Check out the video of Nokia’s HAIP below:

Well, that was a short stint. The Samsung Galaxy Note has only been with Old Magenta for a little over a month, but it looks like T-Mobile is already preparing to pull the phablet off its shelves. To be fair, by the time T-Mobile “launched” the Galaxy Note last month, it was already a year-old phone with other carriers around the world. It was hardly new anymore.

The official word from T-Mobile is that the Galaxy Note is “currently out of stock online… however the device is still available for purchase at select T-Mobile retail stores” or online from Amazon for $159. They have to maintain this official stance until they are able to clear out the remaining stock, but a “very reliable industry source” is saying that T-Mobile is pegging November 1 as the “EOL” (end of life) date for the 5.3-inch superphone. That’s assuming that they’re not able to sell out the rest of the devices before then.

If you happen to be with T-Mobile and you still want to get a gigantic smartphone, but you’re not ready to buy right this instant, you probably don’t have to worry too much. We’re expecting Samsung to unveil the Galaxy Note 2 at the end of August at the IFA show in Berlin. That should give T-Mobile enough crossover time to prepare for the launch of the Galaxy Note 2 in time for the holiday shopping season.

This is probably for the best. Can you imagine how many people would be incredibly upset if they bought the Galaxy Note in the next couple of weeks, being sold on it being a “new” superphone, only to see its cooler, better, and more powerful successor released just a short time after? Maybe the G-Note 2 will finally be able to miraculously float in mid-air like the picture above?

This is what happens when designers take the PlayStation Vita seriously. Lead Tearaway designer Rex Crowle reveals how his team has leveraged Vita to bring a paper world to life, and let players interact with it in totally unique ways.

The developer behind the innovative user-generated content creation franchise LittleBigPlanet has set out on a new interactive adventure: Tearaway. The PlayStation Vita-exclusive adventure breaks the “fourth wall” in its own unique way: The goal of the game is to deliver a message from the virtual character, iota, to the actual giant player holding the PS Vita. Rex Crowle, lead designer on Tearaway at Media Molecule, talks about this brand new IP in this exclusive interview.

What’s your experience been like working on the PS Vita?

It’s been a fantastic experience because the device is just so covered in inputs. We really wanted to utilize all of those new methods of interacting with the game to really give a totally new experience. It’s really about not so much touch, but having players really feel that you have a world in your hands as you’re playing it.

How does Tearaway utilize PS Vita’s various control options?

The main thing that we’ve been doing is building a real context for all the features that we’re going to use. We have this paper world that is totally in your hands and then you play as a god character in this game. You’re actually holding the Vita. It’s a very unusual take. It’s like a buddy movie between the character that’s inside the game and you outside of the game helping them out as this god controlling their world. You can do all the things that you might expect to get to do with paper, which is a very unique substance. It’s not like steel or wood, and its very pliable. It’s affected by physical properties. It’s not an art style. The entire game is designed to feel like paper. By holding this world, you can actually push your fingers up through into the world by using the rear touch on the Vita. It doesn’t require any interface because the world is just there for you to push yourself into. So much of the game is about this completely unusual intersection of the fantasy of the game world with the reality of the world that pushing your fingers into. The game is just one way that we’re showing how these two worlds can smash together in this completely new way.

Where did the idea for this game come from?

We started off with just this one trigger point really of seeing your finger properly represented in a game world. It’s a totally new visual that no one has seen before. Then we started to build a world around that out of paper. Paper felt like the perfect substance because it would just respond to how you’re dealing with this world and your fingers. Then we started to flush that out more by giving more surprises to the player. We had a game jam session where everyone on the team really thought about what new directions we could go and what new things we could try out.

With the unique substance of paper, there was so much potential of blowing into the world. Just a tiny breath could cause a massive storm rippling through the world. Just tilting stuff around effects the world, as does tearing. It ties in really well with the impression of the game because as you’re going through the world and you’re meeting and helping characters with quests, you’re doing the types of things you would normally do on an adventure. You’re also unlocking all the paper plans in order to make all of these things that you’ve met outside of the game. Essentially, as you’re playing, your printer can be spooling out everything that you’ve ever encountered in the game, so that you can get busy with a pair of scissors and your paper craft set and the world just comes out of the game. You’re not just getting trophies, you’re getting the actual game experience popping up on your desk or on your table or wherever.

What was it like going into this world after working on LittleBigPlanet for so many years?

It’s a refreshing change. I think people will be able to see a lot of the humor, the creativity and all the aspects that we’ve brought in the past. But having a totally new area, new material to deal with, and a 3D world brings its own exciting challenges for us. We just really wanted to flex some new muscles in the team, really dealing more with adventure and a story and characters to meet and explore more of a progression. That’s been a really fun experience.

What’s going on from a story perspective in Tearaway?

The main character, iota, is a very unique messenger. They totally embody being a messenger in that their head is a giant envelope and inside of the envelope is a secret message. It’s a totally unique message for every player. So I’ve got a message inside my iota and you’ll have a message inside your iota. The only way you’re going to find out what that message is is by delivering them all the way through the game world and helping them along the way. You’ll control them with the sticks and also use your godly powers to reach into the Vita to help them deliver this message all the way through the game world and out to you. There will be lots of exciting little twists and turns along the way and various people to meet and help out before you get to read your personal message.

Announcements from the Unite 2012 conference suggest that the Unity Engine could become the indie brand of choice.

This week, Unity Technology showed off the latest build of its game engine, got praise from prominent developers, and handed out awards to up-and-comers at Unite 2012, a conference dedicated to showcasing the ambitious multi-platform game development engine.

While the Unity Engine is missing some of the flashy visual features that the Unreal Engine offers, it has never been about making triple-A epics. Low licensing fees have made Unity an attractive proposition to developers with more creativity than cash, and the ease with which it supports porting between consoles, PCs, and mobile devices has led eternally-ambitious developer American McGee to proclaim it ” the biggest boon for… a cross-platform developer.”  Recent announcements about the Unity Engine being optimized for Windows 8 phones and ported to Linux further cement the company’s reputation as friend to the common man.

Even if Unity can’t render buzzwords like “multi-layered luminosity dispersion,” the most recent tech demo proves that it’s capable of generating all the sloshing water, gentle shadows, waving hair, and breaking glass that a game needs.  Unity’s recent acquisition of Canadian animation-tools developer Mecanim also means that the engine provides a much smoother pipeline for making movement consistent and believable.  Mecanim-originated tools make it easy for Unity developers to test animation loops, blend different movements together smoothly, and even buy canned (but fully modifiable) animations from the Unity Store.  Unity CEO David Helgason is happy to say that while it may not be pushing pixels as hard as some, the company is “interested in solving problems more than anybody else.”

So far, Unity’s small-developer-friendly approach means that it’s very popular among beginning programmers and indie games, but it hasn’t yet made the jump to powering major titles. Cthulhu Saves the World and Snuggle Truck are delightful games, but they aren’t the kind of big hits that convince the industry that your engine is worth mastering.  The enthusiastic support of Peter Molyneux could be as much bane as blessing, given his reputation for over-promising and under-performing.

But Unity’s support of neophyte developers could be its secret weapon. Wired has been running a “Geek Teen” feature showcasing young gamers to try rolling their own, and the Unity Engine is their platform of choice. Developers on low-investment platforms like iOS and Facebook see a lot to love in an engine where licensing fees won’t bloat the budget before you build a single asset. Recent iOS delights like Beat Sneak Bandit demonstrate Unity’s philosophy of scrappy originality trumping high-spec graphics.  And many of the announcements at Unite 2012 focused on the Unity Asset Store, which Helgason says will speed up development for startup studios with “sharing and selling” options for buying pre-packaged hunks of code to cover the game design elements a studio might not be able to generate in-house.  Unity will also be partnering with payment services, community engagement specialists, and advertising suppliers to make it easy for developers to build alternative revenue streams into their games.

No one wants to see boundary-pushers like Unreal go away.  But Unity’s committment to helping independent developers make great games means that the Unity Engine could become the Honda of the gaming industry: unglamorous, middle-class, and absolutely indispensable.

The initial release of Mountain Lion had users complaining of decreased battery life but the latest update may provide some relief.

When Mountain Lion was first released to the public, a number of frustrated MacBook users began reporting a major drop in battery life on their portable machines. Based on a personal test by Ars Technica, the latest version of OS X was shaving roughly 20 to 30 percent off the duration of a charge compared to the same device running Lion (the previous Mac OS). In response, Apple reportedly began contacting affected users and requesting they log system data for Apple to look over. However, a public statement regarding battery issue has not been released and Apple has made no mention of battery improvements in the 10.8.1 update to Mountain Lion.

Regardless, further tests by Ars Technica have proven that approximately 2 hours of battery life can be recouped after updating to the latest version of Mountain Lion. That’s still an hour less than Lion was delivering, but any improvement is welcome at this point. The tests were performed on a 2010 MacBook Air as well as a Retina MacBook Pro, a fair representation of both pre-existing users and those who recently jumped on the MacBook bandwagon. Each laptop was forced to run through a day in the life of a writer while being disconnected from power. During the tests, a full charge lasted around 7 hours on 10.8.1 while Lion would typically provide 8 hours of battery life under the same conditions.

The Mac Observer performed similar tests, but used Automator to perform a list of actions over and over until the battery exhausted itself. The tests were conducted on a new and old MacBook running on Lion first and then Mountain Lion. The results very closely aligned with Ars Technica’s own findings, also showing a one hour loss in battery life when moving from 10.7.4 (Lion) to the latest 10.8.1 update.

Not all users have reported an increase in battery life, however, with a handful stating their longevity has stayed pretty consistent even after 10.8.1. But for an update that didn’t state improved battery life as one of its features, it’s doing pretty well for itself. Here’s hoping the newest Mountain Lion update (10.8.2), currently in developer preview, will continue extending the amount of computing that can be done on a single charge. Have you noticed any changes in battery life? Let us know in the comments.

The Nintendo DS flagship title The World Ends With You is coming to iOS, in what could be a harbinger of bad times ahead for The House of Mario.

Last week, Square Enix posted one of those online countdowns that were so popular a year ago (which is, in Internet time, centuries before the discovery of fire). The font alone was enough to get gamers excited, as it suggested an announcement about the gloriously weird and very well-reviewed RPG The World Ends With You. Now, leaks suggest that the countdown is for an iOS announcement – possibly just a port of the DS game, maybe even a sequel.

Square Enix making an iOS game isn’t news in and of itself: It’s been cranking out high-quality but overpriced iOS games for a while now. The World Ends With You, though, is something special. The game was developed specifically for the DS, when Square Enix asked a group of the design superstars at Jupiter  to create something special for the handheld. The developers have said that they wanted to create a game that could be played on no other system, and they succeeded. Every battle in the game was fought simultaneously on both the upper and lower screens, with the player frantically tapping the touchscreen to smack around enemies below, and mashing the buttons to deploy attacks above. The story followed the visuals, with each screen signifying a different dimension as the character bounced between realities. Not even Nintendo’s own titles made such consistent and unique use of the DS’s sui genris two-screen architecture; it’s hard to imagine a port that isn’t a fundamentally different game.

It’s not just the idea of losing such a promising franchise that spooks DS owners. Square Enix has always been a willfully fickle mistress, cheerfully shifting development to whichever console is the most successful console and laughing at the loser. There are still Nintendo devotees who are bitter about the Final Fantasy VII ads that kicked sand in the face of the Nintendo 64 by proclaiming “Someone please get the guys who make cartridge games a cigarette and a blindfold.” So even rumors of this defining DS game moving to iOS are enough to make Link-lovers fear that a major developer has decided that it’s time to jump off the Good Ship 3DS in favor of the dinghy flotilla that is the iOS App Store.

Nintendo continues to insist that it doesn’t even regard iOS as a threat to the lucrative handheld market, promising that the 3DS can provide experiences that an all-in-one device like the iPhone can’t, and the sales numbers in Japan suggest that Nintendo has little to fear in its own island nation. But to have a game that was once unimaginable on any other system move to the 3DS’s no-really-its-not-a-competitor has got to send a few tremors of fear through the Mushroom Kingdom. If Square Enix is picking up their coolest toys and bringing them over to their friends in Cupertino, it could be a very lonely year for the 3DS.

The week that was in the world of mobile for August 19-24, 2012.

One never knows what the whirlwind world of mobile phones will bring over the course of a week. Well, that’s not entirely true. It’s a pretty safe bet that someone will mention patents. But there’s no patent claiming that the rest of the news isn’t just as worthwhile. If you were too busy downloading all the major app updates that rolled out this week to keep up on other stories, here’s a collection of all the most interesting tidbits you missed from August 19-24, 2012.

Update all the things

Android users were barely able to keep up with all the updates that were released this week. From Pandora (read our impressions of it here) to Facebook to Flickr and everything in between, it seemed like all the essential apps on Google’s mobile OS got a revamp, relaunch, or redesign this week. It was a virtual gift for owners of the OS, but a physical gift if on its way as well. Google Play gift cards are now available, making it that much easier to purchase those tempting little apps.

Microsoft gets hip by being square

While Android apps were getting new features and looks, Microsoft performed the biggest makeover of all by redesigning its logo. The new image that will represent the iconic company is a square with four other colored squares inside it, a clear representation of the new tile-style OS that will appear with Windows 8 Phones later this year. This news of a new look came around the same time that they also revealed a new carrier of Windows Phone: Verizon. The mobile provider will take on Nokia-made Windows phones later this year.

Apple and Samsung are both losers in Korea

In the never-ending patent war between Samsung and Apple, at least one battle has been decided. The winner: No one. A South Korean court has determined that both companies have infringed upon the other’s patents. The judge on the case also concluded that there was little evidence that anyone would confuse Apple and Samsung devices. Given the seriousness of violating patents, the judge dropped his gavel with full force, leveling Apple and Samsung with fines. The amounts? $35,500 for Apple and $22,000 for Samsung. We beleive both companies paid the money from spare change they found between the seats of their flying cars.

Samsung wasn’t so lucky on this side of the Pacific, where American courts were a little less lenient on patent infringements. Samsung lost the lawsuit against Apple, leading to $1.05 billion being owed to the fruit-based tech company. The case is sure to head to appeals court, which will no doubt keep the story in the news for weeks to come.

Apps and Games of the Week

This was the week of the update for mobile apps. On the new release front, things were a little slow. That doesn’t mean there weren’t some solid applications that deserve a space on your mobile device of choice, though. Here is our collection of the best apps of the week.

Evertale (Free, iPhone) – This app takes all the photos that you and your friends take at a certain location the stores them in a folder shared amongst only your circle. Relive the moments without the embarrassment of untagging those shame-inducing images from last night.

The Daily Hundred (Free, iPhone) – Make money just by being in the right place at the right time. This app indicates a daily challenge and encourages you to send in your best offering. The winner gets $100 for doing what you’d do anyway.

Purl (Free, iPhone) – The world’s first location-based search engine, Purl delivers on the most relevant information to you based on your current location.

eHighlighter (Free, iPhone) – Using your camera, you can turn your paper books into a searchable, highlightable eBook. Transcribe full excerpts from books, mark them up and add notes that are available on your iOS device without ruining the integrity of the physical copy.

VOTE!!! (Free, iOS) – We’ve all thought about how badly we’d like to punch a politician. Now you can do it without getting arrested or drug away by secret service. 

Karaoke by PureSolo (Free, Android) – Sometimes you just get the urge to break out in song. Make sure you’ve got the lyrics right with Karaoke by PureSolo. If only there was an app that told you when you were too drunk to perform acceptable karaoke.

ShuckRelay (Free, Android) – There’s so many podcasts out there these days. It can be hard to keep up with all your subscriptions. ShuckRelay keeps all your feeds in one place and allows you to check out single episodes.

Mikey Shorts ($0.99, iOS) – It’s hard to invoke the old school appeal of platform titles, but Mikey Shorts nails it. With simplistic, flawless controls and great level design, it’s a game you can’t miss.

If you are reading this post on Mobile Magazine, there is a significant chance that you are already ahead of the curve when it comes to technological knowledge. You’re probably more capable of navigating through a complex smartphone than the average person. That said, we have to remember that not everyone is quite as well-versed in these kinds of things as you and me.

And that’s why the “starter mode” on the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Stellar isn’t such a bad idea. It’s not exactly clear how they’re going to do this, but the presumed idea is that they’re going to make the smartphone easier to use for average folks. Maybe you can think of it as a stepping stone for people graduating from “dumbphones” or “feature phones.” There’s likely a reconfigured home screen for the most commonly used features and apps, for example. The leaked doc also points toward “on-device help,” which may help users get past issues without having to call into technical support.

As far as the rest of the features go, we’re not so sure either. There’s an indication that it’ll have 4G LTE and that the Galaxy Stellar will let you “shop” and “stay entertained with Amazon apps.” The “compact design” is a departure from the current trend toward increasingly large touchscreens too. In any case, you can expect to pay $99.99 on a qualifying two-year agreement when the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy Stellar launches. The full retail price is $499.99.

Tim Cook issued a memo to all Apple employees on Friday following the conclusion of a patent trial in the US in which the jury ruled that rival Samsung had violated a number of Apple patents. He said the court's decision sent a clear message that "stealing isn't right."

Following Apple’s monumental billion-dollar victory over Samsung in a US patent infringement trial lasting almost a month, Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a memo to all employees telling them the jury’s decision sent a “loud and clear message that stealing isn’t right.”

He also said the lawsuit had been about “values” more than anything else. “We value originality and innovation and pour our lives into making the best products on earth,” Cook wrote in the memo. “And we do this to delight our customers, not for competitors to flagrantly copy.”

He added that he was “thrilled” Apple had finally had the chance to tell its story and thanked the jurors for giving their time.

The Apple boss will be doubly delighted today, as August 24 marks his first anniversary at the helm of the tech giant.

Cook’s memo to Apple employees is shown in full below:

Today was an important day for Apple and for innovators everywhere.

Many of you have been closely following the trial against Samsung in San Jose for the past few weeks. We chose legal action very reluctantly and only after repeatedly asking Samsung to stop copying our work. For us this lawsuit has always been about something much more important than patents or money. It’s about values. We value originality and innovation and pour our lives into making the best products on earth. And we do this to delight our customers, not for competitors to flagrantly copy.

We owe a debt of gratitude to the jury who invested their time in listening to our story. We were thrilled to finally have the opportunity to tell it. The mountain of evidence presented during the trial showed that Samsung’s copying went far deeper than we knew.

The jury has now spoken. We applaud them for finding Samsung’s behavior willful and for sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn’t right.

I am very proud of the work that each of you do. Today, values have won and I hope the whole world listens.

Tim

[via 9to5Mac]